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Home Forward Board of Commissioners Appointments

At a glance

Based on uploaded (human-made) captions; some roll-call details are garbled and hedged.

  • What: three appointments to the nine-member Home Forward Board of Commissioners, the public housing authority for Multnomah County. Resolution 2026-341 appoints Thomas Kemper and Brian Harvey (Portland seats, terms to October 27, 2030). Resolution 2026-342 appoints Uriah Edmonds to the Gresham seat (term to August 7, 2028). Harvey fills the seat that must go to a Home Forward resident.
  • Where it stands: on October 21, 2026 the Finance & Governance Committee of the Whole referred both resolutions to the full Council with a "do pass" recommendation. Resolution 2026-341 passed 11-0 and resolution 2026-342 passed 11-0, with Council President Dunphy apparently absent. The full Council vote is still to come.
  • Why it matters: Home Forward is short of a full board and running into quorum problems. Councilors used the hearing as "soft oversight" of the agency after reports of violence, deaths and high vacancy at its buildings, and Councilor Koyama Lane said Home Forward was added back to the list of oversight topics for the committee.

Who is being appointed

  • Kemper: a retired housing developer and former executive director of a Central Oregon housing organization, with nearly 40 years in affordable housing. Said he would visit troubled properties and talk to tenants and on-site staff.
  • Harvey: a Home Forward tenant since 2013 and tenants union organizer who has helped organize several buildings; co-chair of a neighborhood affordable housing committee. Said the setting was nerve-racking but that he is effective on the ground; Councilor Green and Councilor Ryan praised his outreach to council offices.
  • Edmonds: a Gresham business owner and community leader who chairs a Gresham housing committee and grew up in subsidized housing. Gresham Council President Kathy Keithley presented him. The original document misspelled his surname ("Edwards"); Councilor Kanal put the correction on the record.
  • Process: Deputy City Administrator Oliveira presented for the mayor. Going forward Home Forward and the city plan a nomination committee for Portland's five seats; the two Portland nominees here were chosen mostly by the mayor's office.

Main concerns and themes

  • A recent Oregonian story on a large Home Forward complex led Councilor Novick to ask all nominees how it changes their approach. Kemper said it would be his first visit and questioned why a tenant was not evicted sooner; Harvey said the agency must be a good landlord first, then add wraparound services; both said accountability to the other tenants must come with compassion.
  • Councilor Ryan pressed for transparency: current vacancy rate, how many tenants are behind on rent and for how long. Ryan also noted that enforcing a lease unevenly can violate federal fair housing law. Harvey and Kemper promised to ask for a dashboard; Home Forward board chair Jenny Kim said the board wants consistent resident data and is doing an organizational assessment with a consultant.
  • Property management: Ryan and Kemper discussed staffing and the difficulty of the business; Kemper said his former agency eventually formed its own property management company for about 700 units. Ryan named fentanyl use and sales as the "elephant in the room" and said managers lack staffing to handle it.
  • Board access: Koyama Lane learned that board members have no automatic access to Home Forward buildings, only to the downtown office or when invited. She said she was troubled, would still vote yes, and wants a broader conversation about "cleaning house" at the board. Chair Kim and Keithley said the board should first define the purpose of access and balance resident safety.
  • Council relationship: Koyama Lane was disappointed the interim executive director, Michael Buonocore, was not at the hearing; Oliveira replied that the mayor, not the agency, recommends board appointees. Chair Kim said meetings with the city occur one or two times a month but without a regular cadence. Councilor Pirtle-Guiney asked how Harvey would reach tenants in towers without tenant unions; Harvey said someone must first get him inside.
  • Screening criteria: Koyama Lane asked how each Portland nominee would evaluate changes to the screening criteria Home Forward changed in 2022. Kemper would consult staff and property managers; Harvey wanted in-house outcome data.
  • Public testimony: one member of the public opposed all three appointments, criticizing the board's makeup and past governance and asking why they had not been considered. The committee did not respond to those claims.

Votes

  • Resolution 2026-341 (Kemper and Harvey): moved by Councilor Novick, seconded by Councilor Ryan. The first roll call was restarted so Councilor Zimmerman's vote could be counted; the rerun was 11 ayes with one absent.
  • Resolution 2026-342 (Edmonds): moved by Ryan, seconded by Novick; 11 ayes, one absent.

Sources

Discussion time

About 84 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting Minutes
2026-10-21 - Finance & Governance Committee (Whole) 84

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